St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-07-16
THE LAND OF TIBET.
WILD SCENES IN THE HIGHEST
COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.
TIE Adventurous Journey and Final Mar
tyrdom of the Able Krick-Suspension
Bridges of a Single Cane Along Which
the Traveller Slides in q Cradle.

That vast and highly elevated region,
in the heart of Asia, which is called
Tibet by Europeans but Bod-yul or Peu-
yul by the natives of the country, is bor-
dered to the south principally by the
Himalayan mountain ranges, which
stretch l, 900 miles in longitudinal chains,
and also by system of meridianal chains
lying across further stretch of about
$50 miles, at right angles to the Himal-
ayas. The region is highest on the north,
its loftiest lakeland, the Lingzi-tang
plateau-which lies between Eastern
Turkistan and Iadak-rising to the enor
nous altitude of 1900 feet above the
sea-leyel. This plateau abuts against
the Kiun-Lun ranges which constitute
the northern scarp, as the Himalayas the
southern, of what is probably the great
est existing protuberance above the gen.
eral level of the earth's crust. This re-
I gion presents many interesting geograph-
ical problems which are engaging the la
bors of scientific explorers, but the in
hospitable tribes who inhabit it consti-
tute a guard to its secrets not yet over
come and less is probably known about
it than of Central Africa.
At the last meeting of the Royal
Geographical Society, of London, paper
was read on the geography Of that region
in which an interesting account was
given of the travels of a missionary,
: whose observations, although published
wears ago, were until recently overlooked
BY geographers In 1852 the Able krick,
priest of the French Roman Catholic
mission in Northern India, succeeded in
making his way into the Mishmi region
of Tibet.
NJ. Krick prepared himself for the
journey by acquiring a sufficient knowl
edge of the Mishmi language to enable
him to converse freely with the Mishmis,
without the aid of an interpreter. The
English officials in Upper Assam did all
in their power to help him, gave him
presents to conciliate the Mishmis, and
on the failure of his efforts to in
duce any Assamese to take service
with him, as carriers of his goods
and supplies of food for the journey,
they induced a kampti chieftain, Chow
sam Gohaih, who had previously been
employed in endeavoring to open up
communications with Tibet, to accom-
pany him and furnish him with Mishmi
porters. They started from Sadiya in
December, 1851, "a party" he says, " of
seventeen travellers in all, not including
the dog Lorrain, who ran on in front"
They followed the course of the Lohit
Brahmaputra, in some parts traversing
the bed of the river, and having to spring
I like acrobats across great boulders, in
other parts making their way along
either bank, scrambling over precipices
or cutting paths for themselves through
dense forest aud jungle. They had
frequently to cross the river by
suspension bridges of single cane,
along which the traveller has to pass, his
body resting in cradle attached by
ring to the cane, down which he shoots
rapidly to the lowest point, midway, and
then hoists himself, laboriously climbing
= with both hands and feet, up the rise to
the while looks up to the sky, and away
from the roaring torrent below. NJ.
krick says that the first time he ventured
on this means of transit, and placed him
self in the cradle, he felt like man put
ting a cord round his own neck; but
after arriving safe and sound on the OPP
posite shore, without ever feeling the
possibility of fall, he reproached him
self for his mistrust of Mishmi bridges.
He gives most vivid account of the
Lohit Brahmaputa. He describes the
river as ascending from mountains to the
northeast, through a channel which re-
sembles narrow cleft between two tow
ering pinnacles; he testiies to its great
water-power, the irresistible impetuOsity
of its course, the wild beauty Of its
banks, and the laundering roar with
which it startles the surrounding sol-
tudes; he describes its bed in the Mishmi
hills as all too narrow to contain the vol
ume of water; thus it does not flow, but
bounds furiously; its surface is every
where a sheet of white foam, save in
rare intervals of comparative calm, where
it seems to slumber in deep pools under
the shadow of huge trees, whose verdure
is mirrored in its surface.
The presents with which he had been
literally furnished by the English Off
cials seem to have been rather an anxiety
to him than otherwise; for they excited
the cupidity of the chiefs of the clans
through which he had to pass, each of
whom endeavored to get as much as he
could for himself. But wherever he
went his knowledge of the language
stood him in good stead, and he met
with friendly reception; at every stage,
however, he was strongly advised not to
proceed any further, each clan fearing
to compromise itself with it's neighbors
and with the Tibetans; he was
nowhere actually stopped, but every
where endeavors were made to terrify
him into returning by tales of the dangers
which assuredly awaited him. On reach
ing Jingsha's village, he was taken to
the edge of lofty precipice overhang-
ing the Brahmaputra, and shown the
place where two Asiatics, who were en-
deavoring like him to make their way
into Tibet, had been murdered, some
years previously, and their corpses
thrown into the river. "See," said his
informants, who appear to have been
really anxious for his welfare, there are
the stains of their blood; if you go on
, you will be murdered and your body
thrown into the river" But he was re-
solved to proceed at all risks, and when
they found this they guided him onward
and supplied porters to carry his stock
of goods, which, however, was
being rapidly diminished by petty
thefts and presents to the chiefs. He
had gun, and always kept it by him,
and as the Mishmis had very few fire